I have been "working out" for two years. First year I was cutting all the fat I put on after two operations on my back and I lost about 90 lbs (coming down to 165lbs).

Then I started weight lifting and my body is slowly growing. I've tripled my strength though bulky muscle is slow to grow. However one thing is still annoying me.

I got down to about a 32/33 inch waist (I have big hips and shoulders so there isn't much fat there at all). However my stomach is still around, not big or noticeable apart from me. It's far worse when I sit down and it all "folds up" and no matter how much cardio I do, restrict my diet and so on it will not go at all.

It's not even wobbly fat, it's totally hard (apart from a tiny little bit of softness at the top).

This sounds silly but are you targeting the area in your workouts? I mean are you doing abs training? There are a million abs exorcises, different ones hit different areas. Cardio will burn fat but it doesn't necessarily take it from the areas we want to be rid of.

You can't target fat loss. You can do ab exercises all day, and all you'll do is build them and tighten them, not target the fat on top of them. That can help if you want them to be more pronounced, but for removing the extra weight you're stuck just trying to burn more fat overall, which might mean more cardio or high-rep weights with a lower-calorie diet.

I had a trainer look at it and she said it's most likely visceral fat not your typical gut fat. Now that type of fat can take a lot to get rid of.

One way of doing it is cut out any processed carbs.. Yes wholegrain ones too, don't eat any wholegrain breads/pasta and so on just eat vegetable carbs and so on. Along with more and more cardio that is.

Abs are made in the kitchen. Track your diet macros closely and aim for 40/40/20 protein/carbs/fat. The last thing you want to do is work out your abs and make them bigger. It'll make you look like you have a gut.

mythil wrote:One way of doing it is cut out any processed carbs.. Yes wholegrain ones too, don't eat any wholegrain breads/pasta and so on just eat vegetable carbs and so on. Along with more and more cardio that is.

I was going to suggest this, I noticed recently with myself when I cut out a lot of sources of carbs that my belly seems more cut.

Evader wrote:The last thing you want to do is work out your abs and make them bigger. It'll make you look like you have a gut.

A strong core is important though, everything is attached to your center of body and having a strong core will help you prevent issues down the line.

Kon wrote:A strong core is important though, everything is attached to your center of body and having a strong core will help you prevent issues down the line.

I agree completely, and this will be a by-product of doing every other exercise, especially squats and deadlifts. Focusing on working the abs for the purpose of getting a smaller stomach is counter productive.

mythil wrote:One way of doing it is cut out any processed carbs.. Yes wholegrain ones too, don't eat any wholegrain breads/pasta and so on just eat vegetable carbs and so on. Along with more and more cardio that is.

I was going to suggest this, I noticed recently with myself when I cut out a lot of sources of carbs that my belly seems more cut.

can either of you elaborate on this carbs and what you define as ok carbs? I eat fruit, veggies, beans/legumes and grains wise rice, quinoa, buckwheat and oats and am thinking of cutting out the rice.

I'm reading this and I must say I have the same problem. I was 100 Kg, then lost weight due to tooth problems and went down to 80Kg. Started bodybuilding less than 2 years ago, but initiall couldn't loose any more fat. Last summer I had a personal diet made for me and for three weeks lost about 8-10 KG, mostly fat. Now I'm about 70kg. Most of the fat in my body is concentrated in the belly and a little in the chest area. I'm now at 18% of body fat, which is a bit higer than I'd like it to be. I have cut on sugar and processed carbs, as someone suggested, but still cannot exclude them completely, as sometimes I grab some food on the go. Recently started to take soy lecitin, but not sure if it helps. My training is 3 times a week at the gym and 2 or three times a week at the local stadium - some rope jumping, a little running or sprinting for about 30-60 minutes. My training sessions are about 90 minutes long, but I usually don't do cardio - just some higher intensity ab workouts at the end. I used to run a lot, but that didn't help at all and I even ended up injured, so I'm now taking it easy on the running.

I usually stay up late and wake up at 9-10 AM, which is bad. Most of the days I start with a carrot juice with some spirulina or/and pea protein powder. After 30 minutes I eat fruit ot/and raw nuts. I usually have lunch at 2 PM or even later - rice and some sorts of beans + salad, or if I have to eat outside - pizza (vegetarian, but not vegan). I usually have dinner between 7 and 8 pm, but sometimes after a late workout it happens even later, which is also bad I guess. Dinner is pretty similar to lunch. I also have "raw" days and usually eat cooked food in the evening. Other bad habit of mine is eating late before bed. Sometimes I just can't get myself to sleep without grabbing a small cup of sour cream or afew bananas, or at least a protein shake.

AS I'm not sure if I can improve my diet any further at the time, can you recommend any specific changes in my training program. I usually train with smaller weights, sometimes performing two different excercises in the same series with 3 or 4 repetitions. One day is leg day + some abs and shoulders, one is back only and one is chest + abs.

Evader wrote:I agree completely, and this will be a by-product of doing every other exercise, especially squats and deadlifts. Focusing on working the abs for the purpose of getting a smaller stomach is counter productive.

You just have to starve even more. Then your metabolic damage will take even longer to repair.

Seriously though not until you give the body sufficient training, calories, early nights, hydration etc does it start to 'heal' the metabolic damage that crash diet and training does.

My gf dropped 20kg FEASTING, sleeping and training LESS than she used to. Only happens when we nuture our body. Yeah you can lose weight doing crash dieting and training but 1000% of the time it will come back on and then some. Just have a look around at the local gym or running races.

Like mentioned above by others, you can NOT spot reduce fat. The first place you gained fat (if you were ever thin)...is the last place you will lose fat. It's just a sign of where your body type starts storing fat first. And visceral fat is (from what I know) is surrounding your organs.

Evader wrote:Abs are made in the kitchen. Track your diet macros closely and aim for 40/40/20 protein/carbs/fat. The last thing you want to do is work out your abs and make them bigger. It'll make you look like you have a gut.

I agree with your first part, but abs don't really grow like other muscles. You can work the piss out of them and they only just add definition....not really get huge if that makes sense. But you are spot-on with the first part. I don't do a ton of cardio, I control most with diet.